Active carbon and process for making same



Patented Nov. 25, 1930 UNITED- STATES PATENT-A, OFFICE JOHANNES VAR Loon, on nnvmrna, mumps Ac'rIvE cannon am) rnocnss roa maxme smn No Drawing. I Application and February 15, 1927, Serial No. 168,468,111! in the Hetherlamia Ian-oh 5, 182B.

' The present invention'relates to the manufacture of activecarbon or decolorizing car.- bon by special grinding. The use of active \or decolorizing carbons. made by chemical 5 and combustion processes is well known as well as the processes for their preparation. All the rocesses for the manufacture of active car ons known up to the present time are generally based on a fine diminution of carbon as well as especially on a transformation of the surfaceof the carbon parts-induced by the action ofacids, alkalies or metal chlorides, generally at an elevated temperature. It was formerlythought necessary to 1.3 activation that the surface of the carbon parts or particles should be etched or corroded by chemicals or heat in order to produce activation. It was at no time conceived that active carbon, as it is known today, could be produced only by grinding and without the use of chemical action, and all the theories advanced in regard to the best activation of carbon pointed to the desirability of methods of preparation other than by grinding. The production of active or decolorizing carbon by grinding accord ng to my invention represents a new and unexpected result.

During the World War numerous secret so rocesses were devised for activating car- 1 Eons, especially carbons used for'absorbing gases. After the end of the war many of these processeswere published but all of them appear to be based on the use of chemicals to chemically react with the carbon particles or coating of inactive carbonaceous matter covering the active particles themselves. The chemical action was also accomplished by regulated combustion at tempera- 4o tureshigher than atmospheric, either with or without the presence of activating solids or gases.

From my discovery a very surprising fact appears that a very hi hly active carbon can be manufactured if car on is ground, preferab1y by wet grinding 'i. e. bygfihding carbon 1n the presenceoi a liquid. Besides the desirable de ree of fineness the absorptive properties 0 the active car on obtained in accordance wlth my process highl exceed 5 those 'of the products manufacture according to present known processes, the carbon produced in accordance with my process bemg 200 and more per cent more active than the carbon made in accordance with the known processes referred to above. In order to produce this activation by grinding itis necessary'that the grinding be continued un- .til the .size of the particles are reduced to from 2 to 5 pl or less. Of course, a certain de- 0 gree of activation might in certain instances,

with certain materials, be attained-when the size of the particles is somewhat greater, for example 8 or 9 i, but it is found more desirable to obtain the greatest activities to 05 reduce the size of the particles to below or about 2 m. The grindin or diminution of the size of the carbon partlcles is discontinued before ob ectionable quantities of material of colloidal fineness are produced, as other-1o wise the product will not be readily usable for decolorizing operations which involve the separation of the decolorizin agent from the liquid to be decolorized; Tfiis separation is usually accomplished by filtration which operation would not separate colloidal particles. I

As starting materials to be ground, ordinary wood charcoal, linden-wood coal, anthracite coal, bituminous coal, used and unso used active or decolorizing carbons such. as Eponite may be used. As the wetting agent for wettin the carbon during grindings water, alco o1,- benzol or a mixture thereof may be employed. It is to be understood that other liquids may be employed which are capable of being separated from the carbon either by volatilization or by extraction after the grinding action has been accomplished.

Instead of carrying out the process at normal room temperature it may be. advantageous to work at an elevated tem erature and it has been found useful to grin the respective material of coal even at temperatures over 100 degrees centigrade i. e. under pressure. This manner of workin accelerates the process of effectively opening the surface of the coal.

The economic'value of the present invention immediatel manifests itself as, by it, one is now en ahled to obtain very highly active carbon in a very simple way from practically any carbon or carbon containing material.

In order that theinvention may be fully understood, several illustrative examples are iven below. However, these are given mere- T for illustrative purposes and I do not tlerebyrintend to limit myself to these details, as obviousl the details of rinding may be varied without departing rom my invention and a mixture of two or more liquids may be used or the liquids may be excluded entirely with the consequent diminution of the generally high activation attained when they are used.

Ewample I i grinding the car on is released from the liquid by exhausting in a well known way, washed out and drled.

The active'carbon obtained in accordance with this example possesses an activity which is about 200% greater than the startln material. The degree of fineness to whic the grinding should be conducted should always be asexplained above, which will result if the conditions of thisexample are fulfilled.

Ewample ll high-pressure autoclave which is rotated about 25 to 30 times a minute. The period of heating may be about 10 hours. After cooling and working up the contents of the autoclave according to the directions 'ven in Exam le I a finely powderous mass 1s obtained which exercises a good activity while the starting-material is comparatively almost inactive.

The simultaneous or consecutive employ ment of several liquids, the selection of'these liquids being determined by the character of the carbon to be ground, has technically this great advantage that during the grinding of the carbon an extraction takes plaee at the same time leaving the coal active in a pure state free from tarry matters or the like. By this extraction process, which ma occur also when the liquid agents are use alone, depending upon their character, tarry and empyreumatic materials as well as soluble organic and inorganic materials are removed, thereby uncoverin and producing additional active surfaces. 11 this way, even starting from inferior coal, one can obtain a very highly active carbon.

The grindingoperation may be conducted at room temperature though the process is accelerated and the activity'of the carbon is sometimes increased when the rinding is done above room temperature. T he temperature of grinding should be such one as to retain any material that may be liquid at normal tem erature in the liquid state. It may be desira 1e to operate at tem eratures above the boiling point of the liqui used atatmospheric pressure. When 4 operating under pressures above atmospheric pressure the ro-' 'tatory grinding drum or barrel autoclave must be closed sufiiciently tightly to retain this pressure i. e. the temperature and when the liquids used are volat1le at the temperatures employed? the barrel or drums should also be tightly closed to prevent loss by evaporation or means provided to constantly add fresh liquid to make up for the evaporation occurring during grinding.

The term carbon in the following claims includes the specific materials recited above and is used in the further sense to include elemental carbon in the pure or impure state, and active or decolorizing carbons which will have their properties enhanced by treatment in accordance wiah the present invention. By the term acti, e'used in connection with carbon in the claims I intend and include thereby active as well as decolorizing properties.

Having described my invention what I claim is: v

1. The process of manufacturin decolorizing carbon which comprises grin 'ng carbon to a size not substantially greater than 2 to 9 in the presence of a liquid medium, but discontinuing the reduction in size ata point where the product is substantially. non-colloidal, and separating the carbon and liquid medium after grinding.

' 2. The process of manufacturin decolorizing carbon which comprises grintfin carbon to a size not substantially greater than 2 to 9 in the presence of a liquid medium above the boiling point of the liquid medium at atmospheric pressure, but discontinuing there'- ductionin size at a point where the product is substantially non-colloidal, and separating the carbon and liquid medium.

3. An adsorptive agent which consists of carbon which has been caused to acquire adsorptive properties by grindingto a size of about 2 to 9a.

4. Decolorizing carbon having particle sizes from 2 to 9 5. Adsorptive carbon having particle sizes of approximately 2 to 9 In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

J OHANNES VAN LOON. 

